Transfer purchases doesn't work anymore, nothing is copied.

A feature introduced with iOS 9 referred to as app thinning or app slicing allows each device to download only the code and resources needed by that device, resulting in smaller downloads and better use of storage on the device. As a consequence the device no longer holds the universal version of the app that could be installed on any device so transferring apps is no longer supported. Instead you can download past purchases from iTunes and/or enable automatic downloads of app purchases to make sure that iTunes always has the apps that you want on your device. A further change to the way restores are implemented means that all private app data is restored and apps that are not in the library are queued for download from the iTunes Store over Wi-Fi, in a similar fashion to the way restore from iCloud works, so not having the apps in your library isn't the drawback it once was, however you are still at risk of losing a favoured app if it is removed from the store.

tt2

... not having the apps in your library isn't the drawback it once was, however you are still at risk of losing a favoured app if it is removed from the store.

As long as your device isn't running iOS 9 you should be able to install a version of iTunes prior to iTunes 12.2 and extract the apps using that. I keep all the content in my library and two parallel backups. It may not be running 24-7 but the backups are updated after each significant change to the library.

See iTunes installers for direct links to recent versions of iTunes. Review the rest of the tip for further advice if required.

tt2

I got hopeful reading the product information in your first post. 😟

tt2

Click SnijdeA and scroll down to your product list at the bottom.

tt2

Hi,

I have the same problem with my iPod Touch 5G. I would like to transfert all my apps from my device to my PC like before, but it's not working anymore. I understand that with IOS 9 you can't do that anymore, but I don't want to re-download everything again on my PC, because it use a lot of internet. It was better before... Do you have any alternative to transfert stuffs from iPod/iPhone to iTunes on PC?

There is an application called i-Funbox that might be able to extract apps from a device. I've used it in the past for data recovery but I'm always slightly suspicious of it because at least one time I've had a potential virus alert and it also asks for your Apple ID and password if you want to let it add apps to your device. I strongly advise that you don't type in those details.

tt2

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

Are they legit software without virus?

Tired to see that I'm updating some of the app here and here on my iPod Touch and after two months, I'm going to transfer everything on my computer, but now I need to make like 40 updates instead.

I hope it will be fixed with IOS 10 or later.

i-Funbox? I explained my reservations above, but I've used it on occasion and it does the job. I don't expect iOS 10 to bring back app transfer from device into iTunes if that is what you mean.

tt2